Sorry,no pictures.No standings,just my opinions.
My first topics will deal with current baseball.I will later on write some more historic pieces.Unlike football,baseball has no salary caps and no revenue sharing.If the Braves have national TV exposure and the Royals only broadcast to relatively small areas of the midwest,it is quite obvious that the Braves will have a much larger TV income.Therefore off the TV income,they can afford to attract higher paid ballplayers and better their team.They have come in first place every year since 1991.
Unlike corporate America,baseball is dependent on competition by a large number of entities.It may be OK for Walmart and Target to dominate discount retail,McDonalds and Burger King to dominate fast food hamburgers,and General Mills,Kelloggs,Post and Quaker to corner the cereal market.However you cannot run a full season baseball league with as few as four teams.Revenue sharing would help make things fairer.
Baseball even goes a step past corporate America in insuring less competition.It is my belief that the most promising place for the Montreal Expos to move to would be north-central New Jersey.There are 8.5 million people living in New Jersey.Yes,depending on location they would take some fans from the Yankees,Mets and maybe even Phillies.However the huge NYC area and media could easily welcome and support a third team.The best location[if there is even one available]would be near the turnpike[preferably between exits 8-10].McDonalds may sell alot of hamburgers but they cannot keep Burger King from opening a restaurant a block away.Why should baseball teams have a monopoly over a particular location?
By the way I must congratulate the Oakland As and Minnesota Twins for their consistent successful on field performance despite a small market and relatively low salaries.This is a result of superior judgement of talent.There is even a current book written about the A's success.The Seattle Mariners have lost Griffey,A-Rod and Randy Johnson to free agency and if you look at the current standings are more than holding their own.However these are the exceptions.
Baseball must attract younger fans in order to survive in the long run.This is not news.When I was a kid,the World Series was played in the day time.Kids brought transistor radios to school.I'm sure even the non-baseball fans knew who was playing.This is not the case today.The Series should start no later than 7PM Eastern Time.I'm sure if someone on the Pacific Coast is a big baseball fan,they may arrange personal time off work if they don't want to miss the beginning of the game.The current World Series TV ratings are not all that great these days anyway.In fact,baseball wouldn't dare have a Monday Night baseball World Series game as they would be embarrased by their poor TV showing against Monday Night Football.I would also make an effort to have more day playoff games.
Stay tuned for the historic section.The first topic is best pitchers in the history of baseball.
BEST PITCHERS IN BASEBALL HISTORY
Many folks who grew up in the 60s,remember Koufax and Gibson pitching in the World Series and will choose them as the greatest pitcher of all time.They were of course great pitchers but not deserving of being the greatest ever.This is a statistical study .The best statistic to use would be opponents adjusted OPS[On Base plus Slugging] against a given pitcher.This stat is not readily available.
Another great stat is adjusted ERA.This takes a pitchers ERA and adjusts it for the era and home ballpark he pitches in.Let's fact it .A 2.20 ERA in 2003 is a lot more impressive than that same ERA in 1968.A Colorado pitcher with that ERA is more impressive than a Dodgers pitcher with the same ERA.I also eliminate relief pitchers as their ERA is affected by the partial innings they pitch.A reliever can come in with two outs already previously recorded by the starter,give up two hits,and then record an out.Any runners already on base would be charged to the starter.Although the reliever gave up 2 hits and only one out,he is credited with one third of an inning of no runs allowed in his ERA.
There are 2 parts to this study.One simply uses the adjusted ERA.The average adjusted ERA is 100.Any above this is a good score.Any below-below average.How does this work?If a pitcher has a 2.25 ERA in an average ballpark but the league ERA is 4.50,we take the 4.50 divide it by 2.25 and times it by 100.In this case the pitcher's score would be 200.4.50 divided by 2.25 is 2 .Times it by 100 and you get 200.
Enough math
Here are the top 20 pitchers by lifetime adjusted[post 1900] ERAthrough 2002
1 Pedro Martinez 171
2 Lefty Grove 146
3 Walter Johnson 146
4 Greg Maddux 146
5 Joe Wood 146
6 Ed Walsh 146
7 Randy Johnson 144
8 Roger Clemens 142
9 Addie Joss 142
10 Mordecai Brown 138
11 Cy Young 138
12 Grover Alexander 135
13 Christy Mathewson 135
14 Rube Waddell 134
15 Harry Brecheen 133
16 Spud Chandler 132
17 Whitey Ford 132
18 Sandy Koufax 131
19 Dizzy Dean 130
20 Carl Hubbell 130
Cy Young pitched some after 1900.What we have are 4 current pitchers in the all-time top 10.As they are current,they have not completed the waning years of their career.Greg Maddux 2003 season so far might be considered the start of the twilight of his career.Only Koufax and Spud Chandler were able to retire on top.Notice how clustered the scores between pitchers 12 and 20 are.The difference between Lefty Grove[#2] and Cy Young[#11]is only 8 points.But Pedro is #1 by 23 points[a greater difference than that between pitchers #2 and #50.Pedro's 2000 season was the best ever since 1900.His adjusted ERA was 285 meaning that his ERA was nearly a third of the league ERA.His ERA was 1.74 but the league ERA was close to 5.00.Pedro also pitches in hitter friendly Fenway Park.By the way Bob Gibson got a 258 for his 1.12 ERA season during the pitchers year of 1968.Pedro's 1999 season was also phenomenal.
By the way Nolan Ryan,who had all those strikeouts and no-hitters does not rank in the top 100.He had some great seasons but had too many average seasons where he might have led in strikeouts but gave up too many hits, walks and runs between those strikeouts.
There are also 9 pitchers from the pre-1920 so called dead ball era.One can make an assumption that perhaps there was a less competitive game back then.Maybe there were many not so great pitchers pushing the league ERA up.For instance if you expanded the majors from the current 30 to 60 teams,the talent pool would diminish and the very best pitchers and hitters would have more impressive stats.It is difficult to compare eras.Today,there are 30 teams serving a larger population.Possibly,some of the better athletes are now playing football and basketball[two organized sports where one can earn a nice living].It wasn't until 1947 that African-Americans were allowed to play major league baseball.In addition,there are many players from Puerto Rico,Dominican Republic and even some from Japan.This only serves to expand the talent pool.
Besides the active and dead ball era pitchers,there are seven other pitchers in the top 20 with only one coming in the top 14.Lefty Grove was an outstanding pitcher during a hitters era from 1926 until 1939.Spud Chandler and Harry Brecheen had great but comparatively short careers in the 1940s.Brecheen pitched three sesons during the war years when the talent pool was diluted.Chandler pitched a full season during 1943 and had his greatest sesaon.Both pitchers had good but not great. careers outside the war years.Chandler's win percentage is over .700.Pitching for the Yankees helped.Dizzy Dean was great during the 1930s,Koufax during the 1960s.Both had excellent careers shortened by injuries.Carl Hubbell in the 1930s was easily the NLs best pitcher.Rounding out the top 20 is Whitey Ford who had a consistently good career through the 1950s into the mid 1960s.There are no pitchers from the 1970s represented here.A similar list of top hitters would reveal only Mike Schmidt to be a coinsistently great everyday player in the 1970s[hitting for on base percentage and power]One can conclude that the talent in the 1970s was very balanced.
As far as top 20 individual seasons ever,Pedro has three seasons on the list with the year 2000 being #1.Maddux has 2 [1994-1995]in the top 5.Walter Johnson has a couple in the top 10 plus two more in the top 25.Bob Gibson's 1.12 in 1968 gives him a 258 ranking him 6th.
In order to compensate,for all these dead ball era pitchers in the list,I based another list on top 10 rankings in seasonal league adjusted ERA.Due to there being less teams [only 8 in a leagure prior to 1961]it is a bit of an advantage for old time pitchers.Giving a different amount of points for each top 10 ranking in pitching.I used the following
ERA champ 20,2nd 17,3rd 15,4th,13,5th,11,6th ,9,7th,8,8th,7,9th,6,10th,5.
The assumption is there usually is a greater difference between the top few.Another assumption is coming in 10th in ERA is not too shabby.It definitely merits at least 5 points.
The top 20 in this system are
1 Lefty Grove 234
2 Cy Young 228
3 Walter Johnson 220
4 Roger Clemens 216
5 Christy Mathewson 195
6 Greg Maddux 192
7 Grover Alexander 176
8 Tom Seaver 166
9 Jim Palmer 136
10 Mordecai Brown 136
11 Bert Blyleven 135
12 Randy Johnson 134
13 Carl Hubbell 132
14 Warren Spahn 123
15 Bob Gibson 122
16 Tommy Bridges 122
17 Stan Coveleski 118
18 Ed Walsh 113
19 Robin Roberts 113
20 Hal Newhouser 109
This list has a little bit better distribution by eras.Pedro is not yet on this list.But if he continues his standard of excellence,he'll soon move up the list.Randy Johnson,if he comes back successfully from injury might also move up the list.There is a huge point drop between #8 Tom Seaver and #9 Jim Palmer.Running through the list, both Tommy Bridges and Hal Newhouser were very good pitchers who excelled during the war years.One would have to say that Spahn,Blyleven and Palmer were consistent pitchers over long careers.This list offers no penalties for pitchers pitching a few extra years past their prime.By the way though he led the league in ERA,five times in a row[1962-1966],Koufax only led the league in adjusted ERA three times.He benefited from Dodger stadium.Dick Ellsworth 2.10ERA in 1963 for the Cubs[Wrigley Field-hitters park]beat his 1.88 by a 167-161 margin.Notice his 161 is lower than Pedro's lifetime 171.Koufax adjusted ERA of 160 in 1965 was third behind Juan Marichal and Vernon Law.Once again he finished below Pedro's lifetime mark.
In conclusion,my five most dominating starters of their era would have to include Pedro Martinez,Lefty Grove and Walter Johnson.It should be noted that Maddux and Clemens are currently in the top 10 in both categories.After the first three,I would pick the final two from Maddux,Clemens,Randy Johnson,Christy Mathewson,Carl Hubbell and Tom Seaver.
Adding the 2003 season,Pedro Martinez had his usual superb season ERA wise.His career number moves up to an astounding 174.The other three active pitchers in the top 20 dropped off.Greg Maddux drops to 143,Randy Johnson to 143 and Clemens[at this moment retired]to 140.
Pedro is an amazingly dominant pitcher statistically.Some of you may take into account that he rarely pitchers more than 7 innings in a game.Others may add he has not won a championship.
Now to add a third stat to the mix.This is based on a pitchers 7 greatest seasons.Why 7.The Strat-O-Matic Game Co. has come out with a hall of fame edition based on players 7 greatest seasons.It is actually a good somewhat random number to pick.What this does is not penalize a pitcher for pitching past their prime.Taking their 7 greatest years,the top 20 pitchers ranked by era and home ballpark are
1 Pedro Martinez 217
2 Walter Johnson 211
3 Greg Maddux 202
4 Roger Clemens 185
5 Lefty Grove 183
6 Randy Johnson 181
7 Christy Mathewson 180
8 Mordecai Brown 175
9 Cy Young 173
10 Grover Alexander 168
11 Kevin Brown 165
12 Bob Gibson 161
13 Tom Seaver 159
14 Ed Walsh 157
15 Carl Hubbell 155
16 Sandy Koufax 153
17 Addie Joss 152
18 Rube Waddell 150
19 Jim Palmer 148
20 Lefty Gomez 147
One should note that the difference between Pedro and Koufax is about the same as Koufax and an average score[100]pitcher.Koufax had to add on a average season as in his short career, he was only great for 6 years.
